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05 October 2010

Unrated Hatchet 2 Gets Pulled From Theaters

I had every intention of sitting down today and busting out my Hatchet 2 review. That was until word came yesterday that the film had been pulled from Canadian and US theaters. I was fortunate enough to see Hatchet 2 opening weekend and I can honestly say as a huge Hatchet fan that I saw NOTHING in this film that should've been edited out to begin with. Adam Green set out to make a silly, campy, gory fan film and that's exactly what he did. He didn't do it for himself, he did it for us... genre fans, film fans, Hatchet fans.

Mainstream Hollywood and the MPAA have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioner. Who are they to say what we can and can't watch? Are everyone of us so totally twisted that we have to be protected from ourselves? I don't think so. For me it's all a matter of what the public wants, not what the MPAA thinks we need. It's pointless censorship and goes against the freedom of speech (just my humble opinion). And really, what difference does it make when unrated DVD's are released everyday? What's next? They come into your home and pull every inappropriate DVD from your shelf and tell you you can't watch it? I think it's ridiculous that big studio horrors can get into theaters with an R rating yet indie films still get chopped to pieces when it's not even necessary.

If you go back and look there are plenty of gore filled films that were allowed to ride out their screen time; Saving Private Ryan, Hostel, The Hill Have Eyes (remake) and Rob Zombie'sHalloween 2 to name a few. I find it odd that Adam Green ruffles a few feathers and his film gets yanked before it's ever really given a chance. Yes, it didn't have the best opening weekend but you're talking about a film that's only advertising was internet and word of mouth. There were no TV spots or billboard ads hyping up the film. Want a good example? I guess the most recent would be Uma Thurman'sMotherhood. Opening weekend it released on 48 screens and made only $50,000.00. Then it was allowed to run for another two weeks pulling in a measly $11,000.00. That's about $817.73 per screen on a combined average. So, to say that poor performance is the reason it was pulled is just a bunch of bullshit. At least AMC had the balls to make an effort to show it. I've no doubt that the evil MPAA bullied them into pulling it. But again, that's just my opinion and who am I? No one.

I'm proud of Adam Green for taking a stand and putting out a film that his fans asked for and for having the guts to go up against the MPAA and fight for his work. Most people bow down and kiss their asses for screen time. After all, if you create something, don't you want to show it how it's meant to be? I would. Kudos to Adam Green and AMC.

3 comments:

Aw, come on. I don't like the MPAA much either, but they have no dog in this fight. Other unrated horror movies ("The Human Centipede" for one) went out unrated and never got pulled after three days.

Follow the money. The flick tanked. AMC could make more money off another show of "The Town" in those auditoriums, so they made a decision based purely on business. Toss the one that's not selling tickets and replace it with something else.

As I said in my post, there are films I've seen with much more gore and violence that received an R rating. Human Centipede was not released to theaters unrated. It was given an R rating. Again, in my post I've given a perfect example of a film that made crap money but was allowed to run it's screen time. I don't feel it's as simple as "follow the money" but no one knows. There's been no press release so we can't say for sure.

Why do those siding with the "box office" reasons like to ignore the fact that Hatchet 2 started being pulled on FRIDAY and was continually pulled TIL it was gone Monday morning? Why do they not acknowledge that this has never happened to a film before, that Hatchet 2 was actually on track to do what most indie unmarketed films do, or that Chain Letter only pulled $300 per screen and yet still had it's full week because it was "R"? Why don't they acknowledge that Hatchet 2 was killing in certain markets (NY and LA specifically according to box office mojo) yet was pulled from those theaters as well? Come on now. The writing is on the wall here. Don't be stupid. Green lashed out very publicly against the MPAA and AMC panicked and bbl peddled out of showing the film. I don't get why even he is still taking the high road and praising them for "trying". I'm a bit disappointed in his quiet stance on this but I have to assume that he is being forced to be that way. It makes no sense to me.